This is a list of preserved locomotives in the United States, organized by state then city or town of their last-known locations. It is intended to list all locomotives that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places or other heritage registers, or that are preserved and displayed or stored or operated at museums or heritage railways. This includes locomotives on cog railways, but is not intended to cover self-propelled railcars or multiple units or locomotives of miniature railroads.
The permanent or usual locations are identified by coordinates where possible; these locations may be seen together by clicking on "Map all coordinates using: OpenStreetMap" at the right side of this page.
The ALCO boxcabs were diesel-electricswitcherlocomotives, otherwise known as AGEIR boxcabs as a contraction of the names of the builders. Produced by a partnership of three companies, ALCO (American Locomotive Company) built the chassis and running gear, General Electric the generator, motors and controls, and Ingersoll Rand the diesel engine. The principle of operation was the same as modern locomotives, the diesel engine driving a main generator of 600volts DC with four traction motors, one per axle.
General Electric-built diesel-electric switch locomotive, well-preserved example of the second generation of GE's 25-ton switching locomotives, a popular model used widely in freight yards throughout the nation and internationally.[1]
Located in a park in Colorado Springs, or operating on Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad, based out of Antonito, Colorado. One of 12 locomotives built for the D&RG by BCW in 1883 with large 46in (1,200mm) drivers, making them suitable for relatively fast passenger service. Operational. Oldest steam locomotive owned by C&TSRR. Restored 2019.
Another of 12 locomotives built for the D&RG by BCW in 1883 with large 46in (1,200mm) drivers, making them suitable for relatively fast passenger service.
One of the few remaining examples of the world's largest steam locomotives, a 4-8-8-4 type, of which only 25 were ever built, and eight remain in museums
Operational. Was restored to operating condition for the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad in 1984 and was traded to the C&TSRR in late October 1991 in exchange for class K-36 locomotive 482. Locomotive 497 was later taken out of service in late 2002 and currently sits in storage in the Chama roundhouse awaiting an overhaul.
In 2019 went down for Federal Railroad Administration-mandated inspection and replacement of smokebox. Also under conversion to burn oil instead of coal, with completion expected in 2021.
Owned by the Durango Railroad Historical Society, but on indefinite loan to the C&TSRR.[3] Restoration work on No. 315 was completed in August 2007, and it continues to operate on occasional special excursions on both the D&SNG and the C&TSRR.
Operational. Was on display in Silverton until moved to Durango in 2016 for restoration. Restored to operating condition in 2020.[4] Converted from burning coal to burning oil.[4]
Stored in Durango, serving as a parts source for other locomotives. Tender was sent with K-37 class No. 499 when traded to the Royal Gorge Park in 1999.
Originally built as the "Manitou", renamed to "T.F. Richardson" at some point before 1898. Rebuilt as a Vauclain Compound and numbered #2 in 1893.
CO-66
PPCR No. 3
Cog steam 0-4-2T
1890 built by BLW
PPCR, Manitou Springs, CO
Scrapped for parts. Originally built as "Pike's Peak", rebuilt as a Vauclain Compound and numbered #3 in 1893.
CO-67
PPCR No. 4 (1st)
Cog steam 0-4-2T
1892 built by BLW
Wrecked August 31, 1896, scrapped
The smallest engine the railway owned, was known as the "little 4". First engine delivered as a Vauclain Compound, and its superiority over the previous 3 engines resulted in them being sent back to Baldwin to be rebuilt. Broke a side rod and ran away in August 1896.
Built to replaced wrecked #4. Built to the specifications of the original larger engines. #4 Was sent to the Colorado Railroad Museum after retirement in October 1968. It was then traded for #1 in November 1979.
First engine built with an automatic brake. Displayed at the Cog Railway Depot in Manitou for many years before being moved to the Broadmoor Hotel and put on display.
First GE Unit delivered to the railway. It had 3 2 stroke General Motors 71 engines and internal Dynamic brakes. Was retired with the arrival of the Swiss units and robbed of parts to maintain other engines.
Unit 11 was powered by 2 Cummins NHS diesels as built. Later rebuilt with Cummins 855 diesels.
CO-74
No. 12
Cog diesel electric
1955 by Manitou and Pikes Peak railroad shops
Rebuilt as No. 23 PPCR, Manitou Springs, CO
Built by the railroad shops, unit 12 was powered by 2 General Motors 110 diesels. Was built to the same body style as the GE built units. Rebuilt to Unit 23 in 1982.
CO-75
Rio Grande Southern 42 (aka Denver & Rio Grande 420)
Originally owned by the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad, it was purchased by the Grapevine Vintage Railroad in 2005. Vinny is the most used locomotive on the line while 2248 is down for repair.
Originally owned by the Southern Pacific Railroad for mixed passenger and freight use in California. Later in its life, it was converted into a fire train, and eventually ended up as a ceremonial engine in a private collection. Although at one point Walt Disney was eyeing it for a project that never came to be, it ended up in the hands of the Texas State Railroad in 1976. In 1990, #2248 was purchased by the FWWR and restored to operational condition in 1991. Since early 2016, the 2248 has been out of service. Grapevine expects to see the locomotive return to steam by 2023.
One of the last Class 1 mainline locomotives built by Baldwin Locomotive Works, closing out more than 100 years of production, a total of more than 70,000 locomotives. [Was in WV, but may now be in MD.]
There are many preserved locomotives in the United States which are not individually listed above. Numerous ones are preserved at railway museums and heritage railways,[note 8] These include:
↑ Recently acquired from the White Pass and Yukon Route (WP&Y) in April 2020. Arrived in Durango in late August 2020.
↑ Acquired from Motive Power and Equipment Solutions (MP&ES) in 2018 in response to the 416 Fire. Arrived in Durango in early November 2020. Rebuilt from an ex-Tri-RailF40PHL-2. Originally announced to have the number 550, in reference to the highway linking Durango and Silverton.
↑ Acquired from Motive Power and Equipment Solutions (MP&ES) in 2018 in response to the 416 Fire. Arrived in Durango in late October 2020. Rebuilt from an ex-Tri-RailF40PHL-2. Originally announced to have the number 416, in recognition of the extraordinary effort that was undertaken by firefighters to fight the 416 Fire.
The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, often shortened to Rio Grande, D&RG or D&RGW, formerly the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, was an American Class I railroad company. The railroad started as a 3 ft narrow-gauge line running south from Denver, Colorado, in 1870. It served mainly as a transcontinental bridge line between Denver and Salt Lake City, Utah. The Rio Grande was also a major origin of coal and mineral traffic.
A mountain railway is a railway that operates in a mountainous region. It may operate through the mountains by following mountain valleys and tunneling beneath mountain passes, or it may climb a mountain to provide transport to and from the summit.
A heritage railway or heritage railroad is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period in the history of rail transport.
The White Pass and Yukon Route is a Canadian and U.S. Class III 3 ft narrow-gauge railroad linking the port of Skagway, Alaska, with Whitehorse, the capital of Yukon. An isolated system, it has no direct connection to any other railroad. Equipment, freight and passengers are ferried by ship through the Port of Skagway, and via road through a few of the stops along its route.
Conservation and restoration of rail vehicles aims to preserve historic rail vehicles. It may concern trains that have been removed from service and later restored to their past condition, or have never been removed from service, like UP 844, the only U.S. steam locomotive to never be retired. They are often operated in present-day service as moving examples of living history, as opposed to static exhibits. The majority of restored trains are operated at heritage railways and railway museums, although they can also be found on the main lines or branch lines of the commercial working railway, operated by specialist railtour companies or museum groups.
The Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad, often abbreviated as the C&TSRR, is a 3 ft narrow-gauge heritage railroad that operates on 64 miles (103 km) of track between Antonito, Colorado, and Chama, New Mexico, in the United States. The railroad is named for two geographical features along the route: the 10,015-foot (3,053 m)-high Cumbres Pass and the Toltec Gorge. Originally part of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad's narrow-gauge network, the line has been jointly owned by the states of Colorado and New Mexico since 1970.
The Boone and Scenic Valley Railroad is a heritage railroad that operates freight and passenger excursions in Boone County, Iowa.
The Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, often abbreviated as the D&SNG, is a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow-gauge heritage railroad that operates on 45.2 mi (72.7 km) of track between Durango and Silverton, in the U.S. state of Colorado. The railway is a federally-designated National Historic Landmark and was also designated by the American Society of Civil Engineers as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1968.
The Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad or MRSR, formerly the Mt. Rainier Railroad and Logging museum (MRRR), is a steam-powered heritage railroad operating in the U.S. state of Washington between Elbe and Mineral. The railroad travels on trackage that passes through thick forest just south of Mount Rainier. The depot, gift shop and ticket office are located in Elbe. The train travels to the Logging Museum exhibits located in Mineral. The MRRR ran its collection of vintage rail equipment over 7 miles of track, part of Tacoma Rail's Mountain Division.
The Ghost Town & Calico Railway is a 3 ft narrow-gauge heritage railroad and amusement park attraction within Knott's Berry Farm, an amusement park located in Buena Park, California.
Standard gauge was favored for railway construction in the United States, although a fairly large narrow-gauge system developed in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and Utah. Isolated narrow-gauge lines were built in many areas to minimize construction costs for industrial transport or resort access, and some of these lines offered common carrier service. Outside Colorado, these isolated lines evolved into regional narrow-gauge systems in Maine, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Iowa, Hawaii, and Alaska.
The Denver and Rio Grande Western K-37 is a class of 2-8-2 "Mikado" type narrow-gauge steam locomotives built for the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. They were new steam locomotives built in the D&RGW Burnham Shops as a near copy of the Rio Grande class K-36. In-house production was chosen to preemptively address material shortages and personnel issues. Burnham Shops was assisted in the construction of the class by the Stearn-Rogers Manufacturing Company. The class recycled components from Baldwin Locomotive Works-built Class 19 2-8-0 locomotives used on the Rio Grande's standard gauge; re-using the boiler, tender and other components salvaged from the C-41's. The engine components were constructed new for the locomotive class.
The Denver and Rio Grande Western K-28 is a class of ten 3 ft gauge narrow gauge 2-8-2 "Mikado" type steam locomotives built in 1923 by the Schenectady Locomotive Works of the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) for the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. They were the first new narrow gauge locomotives ordered by the railroad since 1903. They initially comprised class E-4-148-S, but were reclassified K-28 in 1924 when the railroad reorganized into the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad.
The San Juan Express was a narrow gauge train that ran on the 3 feet (0.91 m) Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (D&RGW) route from Durango, Colorado via Chama, New Mexico; Cumbres Pass; and Antonito, Colorado to Alamosa, Colorado. The train ran from February 11, 1937 until January 31, 1951 as train numbers 115 and 116, though towards the end of the passenger service it took on the number 215 and 216.
The Alamosa–Durango line or San Juan extension was a railroad line built by the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, following the border between the U.S. states of Colorado and New Mexico, in the Rocky Mountains. The line was originally built as a 3 ft narrow-gauge line between Alamosa, Colorado, and Durango, Colorado. Portions of the route survive: the now standard-gauged segment from Alamosa to Antonito, Colorado, and a narrow-gauge portion from Antonito to Chama, New Mexico.
Southern Pacific No. 18, also known as the "Slim Princess", is an oil-fired 4-6-0 "Ten Wheeler" type narrow-gauge steam locomotive built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1911.
The 416 and Burro Fire Complex were two wildfires that burned in the southwestern portion of Colorado in the United States in 2018. The fires burned predominantly within San Juan National Forest, 13 miles north of Durango and 14 miles south of Rico. The 416 Fire started on June 1, 2018, and the Burro Fire followed on June 8. Federal officials allege that embers emitted from a coal-burning steam locomotive used by the historic Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad started the blaze, and have filed a lawsuit against the railroad seeking recoupment of $25 million in firefighting costs, penalties and legal expenses. The fires burned a combined total of over 57,000 acres (23,067 ha) and have cost more than $43 million to contain. On March 31, 2022, the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad reached settlements in two lawsuits stemming from its role in starting the 416 fire: one settlement with federal authorities in which the railroad would pay $20 million to the federal government and institute a fire mitigation program for its operations. In the second settlement, the railroad agreed to pay an undisclosed amount to home and business owners impacted by the fire and subsequent floods during the summer monsoon season that followed in the wake of the 416 fire.
The White Pass and Yukon Route Class DL-535E is a series of narrow-gauge diesel locomotives that were custom-built by the Montreal Locomotive Works of Montreal, Quebec in Canada between 1969 and 1971 for the White Pass and Yukon Route (WP&Y) in Skagway, Alaska.
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